Process of making cheese.



J. W. SPENCER & F. P. SCHWINGEL.

PROCESS OF MAKING CHEESE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 8. 1913.

Patented Nov.

llllili...

B LUF D which, under the present practice, requires UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE.

JOHN w. SPENCER j AND FRANCIS r. scnwmem, or CHITTENANGO, New YORK.

rnocnss or MAKING CHEESE.

in'- the :county of" Madison, in the State of New York, have inventednew and useful- Improvements 1n Processes of Making Cheese,-of which thefollowing, taken-in connection with the accompanying draw-. lngs, 1s afull, clear, and exact descr1pt1on.

Th1s lnvention relates to certain lmprove- 'ments in the method ofmanufacturing cheese and more particularly soft cheese separate machinesor apparatus for pasteurizing and coagulating milk together with a largenumber. of duplicate drainers. and presses for removing the whey andexcessive moisture, all of which necessitates an excessively largeamount of room and repeated handling of the products in transferring orconveying them from one machine or apparatus to another so that the workis not only extremely laborious, expensive and time consuming, but ismore or less unsanitary and results in unnecessary loss by waste inhandling.

The main object is to perform theseveral operations of pasteurizing,coagulating and curdling the milk, seasoning or ripening the curd, andfinally separating the cheese from the whey by successive butprogressive stages without exposure or handling of any of'the materialsfrom the time of their introduction into the apparatus until thefinaltproduction of the cheese. In

other words, we have sought to provide a' method of treating andhandling the milk and its products in various stages of reduction withinclosed connected chambers of an apparatus havingv means whereby the passage of the material from one chamber to another may be controlled atwill to allow proper periods of time for pasteurizing and coagulatingthe milk and for seasoning orripening the curd and also for expressingthe whey therefrom and permitting the finished product to beeasily andquickly removed without undue loss of materials.

Another object is. to convey the products from the coagulating chamberto the whey-' expressing chamber by purified air pressure. Otherobjectsand uses will be brought out in the following description.

In the drawings-Figure l is a/longitudi nal vertical sectional. vlew,partly in eleva- Specification of Letters Patent. Application filedApril 8, 1913. Serial No. 759,!l61.

of time or waste Patented Nov, 9., 191 5.

tion, of an apparatus for carrying out our process. Fig. 2 is a faceview of qne of,v the press plates showing the drainage ports therein.Fig.- 3 is a perspective view of one of .the screen partitions betweenthe press plates.

The natural milk is introduced into an air and water-tight tank througha. suitable inlet 2 in the top thereof, after' 3- and suitable clampsnot shown by which the lid may be held to its seat to form an air-tightjoint. The temperature of the milk within the tank is then raised to anabnormal degree 'suflicient to destroy any in-.

.jurious bacteria which may be present therein' and also to sterilizethe milk which is then subjected to an abnormal low tempera 75 turesufficient .to chill it and thereby c0m plete the destruction of anybacteria which which the inlet is closed tightly by' a lid 7 may existor develop in the li 'ui'd. This I heating and chilling of the liqui ispreferably accomplished by successively introducing steam and cold waterthrough aspiraltube 4 which is disposed vertically with- I in the tankand has its opposite ends connected respectively to a central uprighttube 5 and an additional tube. '6 surrounding the upper end of thecentral tube and provided with an outlet or overflow pipe 7- which maybeconnected to .a con-- denser or waste receptacle (not shown).

The upper end of the central pipe is pr0- vided with branch inlets 8 and9- having valves 10 and 11 one of said branch pipes serving to admitsteam to the central tube 5- and thence to the lower end of the coil ,41through which it passes upwardly into the base of-the pipe 6 and thenceoutwardly through the outlet 7 during which time the cold waterregulating valve 11 is closed. After the milk is subjected to this heatfor thenecessary period of time to bring the entire body of milk to theproper temperature, the steam-controllingvalve 10 is closed and thecold-water controlling "valve -11 f opened to admit the cold water tothe central pipe 5 and thence to the-lower end of thecoil 4 throughwhich it passes up 5 -warcll v through said coil into the pipe -6- andthence outwardly through the waste pipe -7, the circulation of coldWater-1 10" continuing until the entire body of milk is thoroughlychilled. In order to expedite this heating and cooling of the liquidwithin ,the tank, we have provided the latter with an external jacket-12 forming an mterveni'ng'chamber 13 which extends en-- tirely aroundthe upright sides and across the bottom of the tank for receiving andretaining a body of. water, thereby forming a water jacket having anoverflow or outlet 14.- near its upper end to relieve the pressure byexpansion of the water when heated in a manner presently described.

Encircling the tank 1 within the chamber --13 and therefore within theouter casing l2 is an .additional pipe COll 15- having one end, as forexample,

its lower end provided with branch supply pipes 16- and --l7which areequipped with valves 18 and -19, the upper end of the coil terminatingin an outlet 20 having a valve 2l. The pipe l6 may be connected to anyavailable source of steam supply (not shown) for supplying steam to thecoil -15 through which it passes and escapes through the outlet 20-,during which operation the valve 19 is closed. The pipe l7- may beconnected to any available source of cold water supply for admittingcold water to the coil l5 through which it passes and escapes throughthe outlet 20, the valve 18 being closed when the water-supply valve isopened.

It isnow clear that when it is desired to heat the milk within the tank,the cold water supply valves for both coils may be as closed andthesteam supply valves opened or, when it is desired to chill the milk within the tank, the steam supply valves may and expedite coagulation ofthemilk and also to facilitate uniform heating and cooling of such body andfor this purpose, the upright pipes 5. and 6'- and coil are caused torotate and to serve as anagitator, the lower end of the central I pipe 5below the coil 4 being closed and stepped in a suitable bearing 22centrally on the bottom of the tank while the upper end of the tubularconduit 6- above the upper end of the coil is journaled in a bearing 23-in the top of the tank and is driven ;by a driving shaft -24-- throughthe medium of meshing gears 25-, the shaft 24.-- being provided1,15e,sos

with a pulley 26- whichv may be connected by a belt to any availablesource of power (not shown).

As previously intimated, the central pipe 5 extends through and abovethe pipe 6 and has a turning connection with a relatively stationarycoaxial section 27 thereof through the medium of a stuiiing box or gland28 which prevents leakage at the joint.

After the coagulated milk has been treated in the manner describedwithin the tank and the curd allowed suiiicient time to season or ripentherein, it is expelled from the tank through a conduit 30 and into oneend of a press 31 where the whey and moisture are expressed under suchpressure, this air pressure being produced by an air compresser pump 32by which atmospheric air is forced through the pipe 33 and filter 34into the interior of the tank. through an inlet -35- in the top thereof,said pipe being provided with a safety valve 36, pressure gage 37 andcontrolling valve 38 to prevent over-pressure, to indicate the pressureand to open and close the air supply through the pipe at will. w

The press preferably comprises a stations ary head 39 and a series ofpress plates 40- and intervening screens -41 alternating with each otherand adapted to be pressed together toward the stationary head 39 by afollower 42 and screw i3- having a hand wheel 44., the screw beingoperated in a stationary threadedbearing 45- while the follower andpress plates are held in operative position in registration with eachother and guided upon suitable ways 46 The inner face of the head 39 andopposite faces of the plates 40'- are chambered out to form recesses ofrelatively large area surrounded by marginal flanges between which thescreens -4l are 1mto form air and water-tight joints, the assemblage ofplates and screens constituting a succession of closed compartmentsintercommunicating through central apertures 18 and 4:9 in the plates 40and screens 41- and coaxial with a central pinged when the plates arepressed together from top'to bottom and. intersected by cross channels-52 near the bottom thereof, the lower ends of some of the verticalchannels communicating with one or more apertures 53 which lead to anoutlet 54- in one corner of the plate, the object of these channels andapertures being to drain off the lent tough fabric stitched togetheraroundand in close proximity to their central apertures 18 leaving theremaining portions thereof separable for-the purpose of wrap ping thecurd therein when removing it from the press, the corners of the fabricpieces 'l1 being provided with eyelets 55 for receiving suitablefastening means (not shown) but by which the fabl'ic pieces are clampedto slotted arms 56- on the corners of theplates l0.

' The press constitutes a confining medium for thecurd while under airpressure and is preferably provided with a series of comparativelyshallow intercommunicating compartments having suitable means forcoagulating the milk and expressing the sure, the elements'of the pressbeing separable at will to permit the removal of the curd when reducedto the proper consistency, m

It will be seen from the foregoing description that the broad featureofour invention consists in successively pasteurizing and moisture andwhey therefrom under 'air pressure within permanently connectedclosedchambers or conduits and that while we have shown and describedthe 'one' form of apparatus for carrying out the objects of theinvention, it is evident that the air \Vitnesses i v compressor tank andpress may be located in close proximity or at remote distances onefromthe other without breaking the closed connection between them.

What we claim is: 1. The process of making cheese consisting incoagulating the milk in atank, forcing the coagulate milk from said tankby air pressure into a moisture-expressing compartment, and utilizingsuch air pressure to express the whey from the coagul-ated milk.

2. The process of making cheese consisting in coagulating the milk,producing an air pressure in the vessel containing the coagulated milkto force the coagulated milk through closed conduits into a moisture'expressing compartment and expressing the whey.

3. The method of making cheese consisting in introducing coagulated milkinto'a i moisture-expressing compartment formed" draining oil the wheyand moisture as it is expressed from the curd under such pres' of aseries of intercommunicating chambers .each provided with a drainageport and a screen diaphragm," exerting pressure upon the-milk Within thechambers of the expressingvcompartment whereby the solids are collectedand the. whey expressed and discharged separately from the collectedsolids.

'In witness whereof we have hereunto set FRANCIS P. .scHwINo in.

JoHN R. COSTELLO, EKA M: ANTHONY.

